The sixth and final season of the American

television drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

series ''

The Americans ''The Americans'' is an American period spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg that aired on the FX television network for six seasons from January 30, 2013, to May 30, 2018. Weisberg and Joel Fields also serve as showrunners a ...

'', comprising 10 episodes, premiered on FX on March 28, 2018, The final season was announced in May 2016, when the series received a two-season renewal to conclude the series. The series moved back to its original time slot, Wednesdays at 10:00pm, after airing on Tuesdays the previous season. The events of the sixth season begin in late September 1987, three years after the conclusion of season five. The work of American artist Alyssa Monks was used as the artwork of

Miriam Shor Miriam Shor (born July 25, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for her performance in the rock musical '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' and in the 2001 film adaptation of the same name. She later starred in a number of short-lived televisio ...

's character Erica Haskard, including a small number of pieces created just for the series. The final season received critical acclaim and it was named one of the best television series of 2018 by several publications. It won several awards, including the

Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama The Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama is one of the annual Golden Globe Awards, given to the best drama television series. Documentary series and mini-series are also eligible for this award. From 1962 to 1968, the category wa ...

, the

Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Series The Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Series is one of the award categories presented annually by the Critics' Choice Television Awards (BTJA). History It was introduced in 2011 when the event was first initiated. The winners are s ...

, the

TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Drama The TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Drama is an award given by the Television Critics Association. Winners and nominees Multiple wins 4 wins * ''The Sopranos'' 3 wins * ''The Americans'' (2 consecutive) * '' Homicide: Life on the Stree ...

, and the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Dramatic Series.

Cast

Main

Keri Russell Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress. She portrayed the titular character on the drama series '' Felicity'' (1998–2002), which won her a Golden Globe Award, and Elizabeth Jennings on the FX spy thriller series ''The ...

as Elizabeth Jennings, a

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

officer *

Matthew Rhys Matthew Rhys Evans ( ; born 8 November 1974) is a Welsh actor. He is known for playing Kevin Walker in '' Brothers & Sisters'' (2006–2011) and Philip Jennings in ''The Americans'' (2013–2018), for which he received two Golden Globe Awar ...

as Philip Jennings, a retired KGB officer *

Brandon J. Dirden Brandon J. Dirden (born 1978) is an American actor, best known for portraying Martin Luther King Jr. in the Broadway production of Robert Schenkkan's ''All the Way''. Career A Morehouse College and University of Illinois graduate, Dirden made h ...

as FBI agent Dennis Aderholt * Costa Ronin as Oleg Igorevich Burov, a former KGB officer, now at the Soviet transport ministry * Keidrich Sellati as Henry Jennings, Elizabeth and Philip's son * Holly Taylor as Paige Jennings, Elizabeth and Philip's daughter *

Margo Martindale Margo Martindale (born July 18, 1951) is an American character actress who has appeared on television, film, and stage. In 2011, she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award for her recurring role as Mags Bennett on '' ...

as Claudia, Elizabeth's KGB handler *

Noah Emmerich Noah Nicholas Emmerich (born February 27, 1965) is an American actor and director who is best known for his roles in films such as '' Beautiful Girls'' (1996), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), ''Frequency'' (2000), ''Miracle'' (2004), '' Little Child ...

as FBI agent Stan Beeman

Recurring

* Lev Gorn as Arkady Ivanovich Zotov, Directorate S deputy chief *

Laurie Holden Heather Laurie Holden (born December 17, 1969) is a Canadian-American actress, producer, and human rights activist, known for her roles as Marita Covarrubias in ''The X-Files'' (1996–2002), Adele Stanton in '' The Majestic'' (2001), Cybil Benn ...

as Renee, Stan's wife * Scott Cohen as Glenn Haskard, a member of a State Department negotiating team *

as Erica Haskard, an artist and Glenn's bedridden and dying wife * Alex Feldman as Fyodor Nesterenko, a member of a Soviet negotiating team *

Julia Garner Julia Garner (born February 1, 1994) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Ruth Langmore in the Netflix crime drama series '' Ozark'' (2017–2022), for which she received critical acclaim and won three Primetime E ...

as Kimberly "Kimmy" Breland, daughter of the head of the CIA's Soviet desk * Amy Tribbey as Marilyn, a KGB agent who works with Elizabeth * Darya Ekamasova as Sofia Kovalenko Bystrova, a

TASS The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...

employee *

Yuri Kolokolnikov Yuri Andreyevich Kolokolnikov (russian: Юрий Андреевич Колокольников; born 15 December 1980) is a Russian stage and film actor. In the West, Kolokolnikov is best known for his performance as Styr in the television series ...

as Gennadi Bystrov, a Soviet

courier A courier is a person or organisation that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are ...

and Sofia's husband * Vera Cherny as Tatiana Evgenyevna Vyazemtseva, a KGB officer working at the

Rezidentura A resident spy in the world of espionage is an agent operating within a foreign country for extended periods of time. A base of operations within a foreign country with which a resident spy may liaise is known as a "station" in English and a (, 're ...

Kelly AuCoin Kelly AuCoin (born February 14, 1967) is an American actor who has appeared in film, television, and theater. He is best known as "Dollar" Bill Stern on '' Billions'' ( Showtime), and Pastor Tim on ''The Americans'' ( FX). He has had recurring ro ...

as Pastor Tim, Paige's former minister, now with the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

Peter Jacobson Peter Jacobson (born March 24, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Dr. Chris Taub on the Fox medical drama series ''House''. He also starred on the USA Network science fiction drama ''Colony'' as former Proxy Snyd ...

as Agent Wolfe, former head of FBI counterintelligence * Konstantin Lavysh as Father Andrei, a

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

priest

Special appearance by

Derek Luke Derek Nathanial Luke (born April 24, 1974) is an American actor. He won the Independent Spirit Award for his big-screen debut performance as the titular character in the 2002 film '' Antwone Fisher'', directed and produced by Denzel Washington. ...

as Gregory Thomas, an American militant and Elizabeth's ex-lover, who appears in a dream Elizabeth has in the series finale.

Episodes

Reception

Critical response

The sixth season has received widespread acclaim from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it received a 99% approval rating with an average score of 9.17/10 based on 30 reviews, with a critics consensus of: "''The Americans'' powerful final season pumps up the volume on an already intense show, concluding the complex series arc with epic familial conflict... and a high body count." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the season has a score of 92 out of 100 based on 18 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Daniel D'Addario of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' wrote of the season: "Happily, the show has evolved in how it deals with its central concerns. ..Even at its less-well-loved moments, ''The Americans'' is still better than practically anything else around." Tim Goodman for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' shared similar praise, writing of the final episodes: "They were, all three pisodesof them, exceptional—clear examples of one of television's greatest dramas still very much on top of its game."

Accolades

At the

70th Primetime Emmy Awards The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2017, until May 31, 2018, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held live on September 17, 2018, at the Mi ...

, it won two awards and was nominated for another two.

won for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg won for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the episode "START". It received a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series and

was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. For the 34th TCA Awards, ''The Americans'' won for Program of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Drama, with Russell winning for Individual Achievement in Drama, and Rhys receiving a nomination in that same category. ''The Americans'' was named one of the top 10 television programs of the year by the American Film Institute. For the

76th Golden Globe Awards The 76th ceremony of the Golden Globe Awards honored the best in film and American television of 2018, as chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Produced by Dick Clark Productions and the HFPA, the ceremony was broadcast live on Jan ...

, ''The Americans'' won for Best Television Series – Drama, and Rhys and Russell received nominations for Best Actor and

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

in a television series drama, respectively. For the 9th Critics' Choice Television Awards, ''The Americans'' won for Best Drama Series, Rhys won for Best Actor in a Drama Series and

won for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series; Russell was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series and Holly Taylor was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. ''The Americans'' is nominated for Best Drama Series for the 71st Writers Guild of America Awards. The series won the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Dramatic Series at the 71st Writers Guild of America Awards.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Americans (season 6), The 2018 American television seasons Season 6 Television series set in 1987